By Emma Marris
In October of 2013, I toured three miles of disused railroad line in Philadelphia. The entire line was covered with spontaneous vegetation alive with butterflies and ladybugs. Here nature was showing us her resilience and her wild beauty and offering to meet us where most of us live now, in the city. What is tricky about urban wildness is what I call the High Line Problem.
by Don Pell
Four years ago, a project inquiry brought me to a site that dreams are made of—an 18th-century colonial farmhouse beautifully restored over the past 30 years by its owners. The details of the home were meticulously curated; however, the gardens were entirely unconsidered. The home’s surroundings looked degraded and sadly suburban. Join me as I transform this landscape into an ecological oasis for the homeowners to enjoy for years to come.
by Jamie Purinton & Marc Wolf
Mountain Top Arboretum was designed to mimic and compliment the wondrous native plant communities of New York’s Catskill Mountains. Habitats such as wet meadows and seeps, woodland edges, and bedrock alpine communities completely guided the style and content of the plantings and the stonework. Teamwork combining design, planting, stormwater management, and a focus on educating the public culminated in a landscape that can be resilient through all types of weather.
by Rachel Lindsay
An accessible landscape provides not just access but varied experiences to all visitors. Ecological designers take the concept of universal design even farther and consider how the landscape, especially public and participatory gardens, can benefit not just people of all abilities, but also wildlife, pollinators, soil microorganisms, and watersheds.
Surrounded by uncertainty, more people are thinking about how their landscapes can provide food. Lawns are yielding to vegetable gardens, and suppliers of chicks have struggled to keep up with demand. For those who don’t want to take on the responsibility of a new garden or chickens, we asked a couple of ELA members to share how they introduce edible plants into the landscape.
by Leslie Duthie
Long the subject of fantasy and lore, ferns were objects of desire well into the 1800s. Today, gardeners are unsure of both the ecological value of these ancient plants and how to incorporate them in the landscape. Tolerant and adaptable, ferns offer both ecological and design value.
I live in Zone 6 just outside of Boston, MA. Our tiny front yard faces north and is mostly shaded by the three-story house. To make matters worse, there is a Norway Maple on the other side of the sidewalk, so the yard is dry. The turf grass currently planted cannot cope, and there are many bare patches, even with regular overseeding. I tried Pennsylvania sedge as an experiment, and that seems to be doing well, but I don’t think I want the whole yard planted with sedge. What native plants could we use against the foundation that don’t get too high and perhaps could replace the turf? The yard is too small (21’ X 10’) for a tree or large shrubs.
by Nancy Striniste
Spaces speak, especially to children. Just as the soaring ceiling of a cathedral inspires a sense of awe or a candlelit restaurant prompts us to lower our voices, the formality, informality, size, or openness of a space can tell us how to behave. As we create spaces for nature play, it is our responsibility to be mindful and intentional about the messages the space will transmit to children.
by Lori Silvia
Developed and tended as a labor of love over five years, the landscape surrounding the Academic Center at Rhode Island’s St. George’s School provided the author with new lessons day after day. From the early years as the landscape’s parent, overseeing every aspect of the of evolving landscape, the author’s role has shifted to partner as nature has taken the lead.
by Jennifer Kimball
At the end of a block of brick row houses in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston sit four abandoned lots overgrown with shoulder high weeds. Six raised garden beds speak to the desire of area residents to reclaim this space and to build a community garden in their neighborhood. Those lots are now poised to become a new public green space that will provide residents of all ages a place to gather, attend public performances, enjoy nature, and grow their own food.
Contributors: Andi Pettis, Sarah Saltino, Chris Sawicki
After autumn winds strip foliage from deciduous plantings, new colors, shapes, and textures gain prominence in the landscape as berries, bark, and seed heads gain visibility. We invited a few ELA members to comment on plants they especially appreciate in the winter.
I can’t figure out how to have a shade bed complement the sun bed directly across from it – it’s not that things have to be matchy-matchy, but the brickwork makes them a symmetrical pair of beds. I am having trouble finding shade plants that I can combine into an ecological design, except low groundcovers and short woodland plants, and I am having a hard time visualizing what would work right across the bed of climbing roses, lambs ears, baptisa, gaura, japanese anemones, euphorbia, and salvia. ANY suggestions would be so, so appreciated. I am completely stumped!
